However, we recently learned that the minister sent a memo to Conservative members regarding a secret plan to spend $30 million from the new arts fund. The minister did not set any criteria and used her personal e-mail account.

Does this money belong to Canadians or does it belong to the minister?

Mr. Speaker, the program does not yet exist. The criteria have not been set. We are only in the consultation phase. I invite all parties to provide their input in the consultation. In fact, I have already received input from members from other parties in this consultation phase.

However, guess who has already requested funding for a festival in his riding? The member for Windsor West from the NDP.

Mr. Speaker, the minister has been caught in the headlights of accountability. Her department has been stalling on criteria. She has frozen out our group. She is using her personal e-mail to troll the Conservative backbenches for ideas on how to spend this money that has not yet been identified as in the program.

The question which has to be asked is, are we watching the birth of a brand-spanking new little baby boondoggle?

Mr. Speaker, I reiterate the program does not yet exist. The criteria have not been established. We are in a consultation phase. I welcome input from the member. I think that he should be contributing in a positive manner. I welcome input from all members in this House to serve our communities.

Mr. Speaker, on May 30, 2006 our government introduced two important pieces of legislation. One was the bill limiting the terms of senators to eight years, which by the way has been stuck in the Senate now for 330 days. Another was the bill to establish a fixed date for elections, which passed in the House with the support of all the parties.

However, after sitting on the bill for half a year, the unelected, unaccountable, Liberal dominated Senate amended it at the last minute to allow the cancellation of a Canadian general election for events as minor as a municipal referendum on building an arena. Could the Minister for Democratic Reform inform the House of the status of this unacceptable amendment?

Peter Van LoanConservativeLeader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform

Mr. Speaker, for nearly a year the Liberal dominated Senate has obstructed and delayed our agenda to strengthen democracy and accountability in Canada on term limits for senators and now on fixed dates for elections.

Last night the House of Commons literally sent a message to the Senate asking the Liberal senators to respect the now twice expressed will of the House of Commons on the question of how to conduct elections. Democracy is a boring subject for Liberals.

The senators should recognize the legitimacy of the House, a body of democratically elected, accountable representatives, and immediately restore the bill to its original form so that it can become law. It would be the height of arrogance to do otherwise.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 34(1), I have the honour to table, in both official languages, the report of the parliamentary delegation of the Canadian section of the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie, which attended the meeting of the AFP political committee in Pré-Saint-Didier, Valle d'Aosta, Italy, from February 28 to March 3, 2007.

The committee report presented by the hon. member requests an extension in the time required to consider a bill. Pursuant to Standing Order 97.1(3)(a) a motion to concur in the report is deemed moved, the question deemed put and a recorded division deemed demanded and deferred until Wednesday, May 2, immediately before the time provided for private members' business.

First, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 44th report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs. In accordance with its order of reference of Tuesday, February 27, the committee has considered vote 15, Chief Electoral Officer under Privy Council, in the main estimates for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2008, less the amount voted on in interim supply, and reports the same.

Second, I have the honour to present, in both official languages, the 45th report of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs. In accordance with its orders of reference of Tuesday, February 27, the committee has considered vote 5, House of Commons under Parliament, in the main estimates for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2008, less the amount voted on in interim supply, and again reports the same.

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour today to table in the House of Commons a petition from 26 residents of my riding Willowdale. The petitioners ask the government to investigate the allegations of illegal organ harvesting in China, calling for a respect for the human rights of practitioners of Falun Dafa.

The first is about 13 pages of signatures, largely from people on Vancouver Island. The petitioners note that the export of logs from private lands is regulated by the federal government. They note that during the period of punishing duties, during the softwood lumber dispute, major investment of Pacific Northwest mills led to a massive increase in coastal log exports. There are about a million acres of private forest land on Central Vancouver Island, and nearly 70% of logs from these lands are destined for export.

They call upon the government to work with the province of British Columbia to implement a tariff on the export from Crown land and to impose a tariff on the export of logs from private lands.

Mr. Speaker, the second petition is about 17 pages of signatures from people in Surrey, B.C., Delta, B.C., Regina, Manitoba and Ontario, concerning Bill C-404.

The petitioners call upon the government to recognize that natural health products promote health and wellness. They ask for improved access to natural health products that would allow Canadians to better manage their own health and relieve pressure on the Canadian health care system.

They call upon Parliament to provide Canadians with greater access to natural products by removing the goods and services tax on them and enacting Bill C-404, an act to amend the Excise Tax Act.

Mr. Speaker, 30 years after the immoral war in Vietnam, Canada must make a moral choice to give refuge to people who refuse to be accomplices in the American war in Iraq. I have the honour to table a petition with a thousand signatures of people in my region who are calling on the Department of Citizenship and Immigration to review its policy on war objectors and allow them to obtain refugee status in Canada.

Mr. Speaker, I have two petitions, both dealing with the same subject matter. The petitions are primarily signed by people from Vancouver Island.

The petitioners request the Government of Canada to institute programs that reduce the climate change crisis by diminishing fossil fuel dependency, while sponsoring initiatives and incentives to promote less harmful technologies.

Mr. Speaker, today I want to present a petition from people in my riding and neighbouring regions.

The petition pertains to employment insurance and workers who lose their jobs because of lack of work. It calls for the elimination of the waiting period. The signatories believe that the waiting period is unacceptable for people who need employment insurance benefits.

The signatories also ask Parliament to hire enough staff for the Service Canada centres to ensure that people who need employment insurance can either complete the form or apply on-line. Parliament also needs to make sure that people get what is coming to them.

Eliminating the waiting period is vital to people who need employment insurance at some point in their lives.

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to table three petitions today that arise out of my national campaign to fight for fairness for ordinary Canadians, in particular for seniors who were shortchanged by their government as a result of an error in calculating the rate of inflation.

The government has acknowledged the mistake made by Statistics Canada, but is refusing to take any remedial action.

The petitioners call upon Parliament to take full responsibility for this error, which negatively impacted their incomes from 2001 to 2006, and take the required steps to repay every Canadian who has been shortchanged by a government program because of the miscalculation of the CPI.

The petitions are signed by hundreds of people in Nova Scotia and Quebec. The petitioners are people who have worked hard all their lives, played by the rules and now find it harder and harder to make ends meet. All the petitioners are asking for is a little fairness.

Mr. Speaker, pursuant to Standing Order 36 I have the honour to present the following petition from my constituents of Bramalea—Gore—Malton.

The petitioners call upon the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities to review Canada Post's recent decision to locate community mailboxes along formerly designated rural roads and to restore home to home mail delivery and thus avoid threats to personal safety.

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour of presenting a petition signed by several hundred informed constituents in my riding who are sensitive about the environment and the habitat of the northern spotted owl in British Columbia.

The petitioners call upon Parliament to ensure the survival of the species, the northern spotted owl, and the protection of its habitat from logging or any kind of further development under the Species at Risk Act.